Diet diary

Do your New Year’s resolutions always start with losing weight?  When January starts are you always a little bit heavier than last year.  Are you always thinking along the lines of if I could just lose half a stone by the end of the month. 

Losing weight is difficult and the older we get the harder it becomes.  The new clothes we bought last year in the sales are now a little bit tighter than they were before.  Our wardrobes are full of clothes that aren’t quite comfortable.  

By the end of January we give up in despair.  We tell ourselves that now we have eaten all the chocolate and treats left from Christmas, we will start dieting properly.  We will have lost that extra weight by the end of February but then along comes Valentine’s Day or a birthday and here is another box of chocolates.  

The shops start to fill with Easter eggs and the weather is still cold.  We tell ourselves we deserve a treat and that and as long as we have lost weight before summer holidays all will be well. Why is it so hard to lose weight?  The newspapers, magazines and  the internet are full of diets.  There are so many different ones just this week I have read about the keto diet, the fast 800 diet, the fast 800 keto diet, the low carb dietB and more  In addition to this there are diets to relieve our various ailments like recently I saw a diet to help arthritis and in the same magazine a diet to help you sleep.

Of course insomnia and arthritis and many more ills can all be helped if we lose weight.  The big question is why don’t we manage to do it.  Why will our resolutions in 2024 nearly all start again with losing weight? 

The answer lies in all that conflicting information.  It also lies in the fact we don’t actually think about what we eat.  Our lives are busy and we grab our meals on the go.  When working we grab a sandwich whilst at the computer and eat it without thinking about it.

Many of my clients list their healthy meals proudly and it is only when pushed

They remember the cakes, the chocolate bars etc.  Recently in the newspaper someone said that taking cakes to work should be banned. Everyone knows how it cheers us up if someone brings cakes into the office.These cakes are okay and do no harm as long as you remember them and forgo the chocolate bar you normally eat on the way home from work, or ask you if you ever need that chocolate bar.

Becoming aware of what you eat and when you eat is the way to kick start your weight loss in 2023.  Write it down and keep a food diary for a few weeks. You will soon be surprised at how much you eat without remembering it.  This may stop you reaching for the biscuit tin when you are bored.  When you find you have lost a few pounds then you have the motivation to carry on.  

I have worked as a hypnotherapist in Leatherhead and London and I also teach hypnotherapy and train new hypnotherapists. I offer a full range of services including anxiety coping mechanisms, stress relief, weight loss, stop smoking and treatment for phobias online. Please get in touch to find out more.